Agriculture in an Energy-Hungry World

Energy is a complex and pervasive subject, whose frontiers are still in the process of being defined. Many of the data are in dispute. Technical judgments do not agree. Conflicts of interest abound. The Nixon Administration, in its allocation plans for summer 1973 and January 1974, gave farmers top priority for fuel – ahead of hospitals, firemen, and police. Critics called this “cockeyed,” preferring to put other sectors of the economy ahead of agriculture.